


arpeggi

by reconquer



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Divergence, Coming Out, M/M, just from the end of boo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 12:32:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11989860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reconquer/pseuds/reconquer
Summary: Thinking about Percy doesn’t make him feel like that anymore. It feels more like poking an old bruise—painful, but in a weirdly satisfying way. Acknowledging that even though the bruise is there now, it will go away soon.





	arpeggi

**Author's Note:**

> last time i wrote a fic for pjo i was 12 and people had ship wars over whether annabeth should end up with percy or luke. we've come a long way folks
> 
> i hate the end of boo and im p sure rick riordan has never met a gay person in his life. also i just love nico so much ,,,, it's not a huge canon divergence, it cuts out him coming out to percy because that scene is honestly so ridiculous. enjoy !
> 
> cw for underage drinking, vomiting, discussions of ptsd and disassociation, disordered eating, panic attacks, and (accidental) self harm. it's not a particularly dark fic but these kids are Messed Up

  

Camp Half-Blood is on the north side of the fork of the island, swerving up and away from the Hamptons on 495, just inland enough to not be touristy and just far away enough from the city to be considered rural. It’s the kind of place where you could pull over to a shack on the side of the road called Goldberg’s and get the best pastrami-on-rye of your life.

Nico is not eating his bagel. Nico is picking the poppy seeds off his bagel and eating those. The smell of Jason’s pastrami-on-rye is making Nico sick. Nico wishes he’d bought a water with his bagel. They’d had to fucking _walk_ there because Will (!!) still isn’t letting Nico shadow travel and flying isn’t a very sneaky way to get out of camp. It’s hot and sunny and the humidity is pressing down on them like a wall of cement—typical New York summer.

“Did you talk to Percy?” Jason asks through a mouthful of food. Nico shakes his head. Jason frowns. “Why not?”

“You know how,” Nico starts. Stops. Wipes cream cheese off his fingers with a flimsy take-out napkin. “My memories are coming back.” Jason stares. “From the Lethe. From Italy.”

 Jason’s frown deepens. Nico can actually _see_ the click of realization between Jason’s ears. “I forgot about that,” he mumbles.

 “You forgot that I’m seventy years old?”

 “Well, you kind of,” Jason’s eyes flick down and then up. His fingers are leaving indents in the bread of his sandwich. “Blend in. Better than Hazel.”

 "Yeah. Well.” Nico shrugs.

 “You know Percy won’t care.”

 “I grew up under Mussolini, Jason. That sticks with you.” Jason puts his sandwich down. It’s practically all crust now, anyway. “Did you know my mother was a Jew? I dreamt about it two nights ago.”

“Oh.” Jason balks. “You’re avoiding the subject.”  

 “Maybe I’m not _ready,_ Jason.” Nico puts his hand over his eyes, partially to get his sticky bangs off his forehead, partially to block out the sun, mostly to block out Jason. “I wasn’t ready when you found out. And now there’s this thing with Will, and, gods, what’s _Hazel_ gonna think?”

 “What thing with Will? Will Solace?”

 "I—” Nico stands up. “We should go back to camp.”

 “You didn’t even touch your bagel.”

 “You can have it.”

 “I don’t want it.” Jason rises, gathering up the paper wrappings from his sandwich and crushing them into a ball. He picks up Nico’s bagel, too, and re-wraps it far more delicately than his big fingers suggest he could. “Is Will making you uncomfortable?”

 "No! Gods, no, I just, he makes me feel—” Nico scrunches his shoulders up to his ears then lets them fall.

 There are no sidewalks this close to the highway, just short, dead-looking grass and small craggy rocks that are easy to trip over. Nico starts picking his way in the direction of camp and Jason follows him. Cars whiz past.

“Do you like Will?” Jason asks after a few seconds of silence.

“I guess so,” Nico answers. His throat feels dry. “I like spending time with him. We don’t really have any history, which is good. But I don’t even know if he’s.” Nico stops himself. 

“What, gay?” Jason says the word with such ease. Nico’s face burns. From the sun. “I kind of think all of the Apollo kids are a little gay.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “You know orientation isn’t genetic, right?”

“Have you met the Apollo cabin, dude? Aphrodite cabin, too.” Jason looks at Nico expectantly. “And probably the Hunters,” he says, like an afterthought.  

“My sister was a Hunter.”

“So maybe it does run in the family.”

“You are such a—” Nico swats at Jason’s arm and Jason lightly shoves him away, grinning.

 

Will’s not quite on his break yet when Nico turns up to the infirmary. Nico reads _Mushrooming on Long Island: Selected Memoirs of an Obsessive Mycophile_ while he waits.

“Are we going foraging?” Will asks when he comes into the break room. He pronounces it fore-aging, long O, not like Percy (fahr-aging, ha-rrible, Flah-ri-da—an old New York accent that scratches up behind years of boarding school and a Manhattan upbringing).

“I prefer to not have to work for my food, actually,” Nico says, putting the book down on the breakroom table. “I brought you a bagel.”

He pulls his leftover bagel out of a pocket of his cargo shorts (shut up, it’s too damn hot to keep up with the whole black shirt/black jeans/black jacket shtick. Nico borrowed them from Cecil Markowitz, who’s about as short and skinny as Nico is, but with better self-preservation, apparently). Will plops down heavily in the chair next to Nico and sighs.

“Thank the gods for carbs,” Will says, tearing through the paper wrappings and taking an enormous bite. “I only have, like—” Will glances out the window, up at the sun. “Twelve more minutes of this break. This is perfect, thanks, Nico.” 

“No problem,” Nico mutters, tucking his too-long hair behind his ear like the fucking girl he is. “How’s everyone doing?”

“Good!” Will says with genuine cheerfulness. “Lacy’s arm is healing nicely. And I removed Julia’s stitches today. We’re finally starting to empty out.”

“That’s good.” Nico offers up a tiny smile.

“Yeah! And then I’ll have more free time and we can, like, borrow some video games from Big House and shack up in your cabin. Cecil could even snag us some popcorn and we wouldn’t have to share with anyone. Or something. If you want.” Will pushes his hand through his hair sheepishly, tugging on the ends in the back a little harder than seems necessary. Nico recognizes it—Will’s ADHD, like him, and he just went from the constant stimulation of the infirmary to being alone in a room with one other person.

“That’d be fun,” Nico says.

“Cool!” Will smiles. There’s cream cheese between his braces. “You have a sunburn. Right—” Will trails his index finger down the center of Nico’s nose. “Here.”

Nico twitches away. “I’m Italian. It’ll be a tan in a few hours.”

“You should still put on sunscreen, though.”

“Or you could tell your dad to cool it. This—” Nico waves his hand in the direction of the sun. “Is ridiculous.”

“You’re Italian,” Will smirks. “You can handle it.”

 

And the thing is, right, that he means to tell Percy. Jason’s probably right, it would make him feel better, make the ache in his chest lighten some, but he just. 

It’s just that.

Every time Nico sees Percy, he’s reminded of everything bad that’s ever happened to him. He doesn’t hate Percy anymore (or maybe he never did), and he’s proven that to Percy and everyone around him, but.

It’s too complicated. Maybe Nico wouldn’t have even minded being—being whatever it is that he is (gay, he’s gay, he hasn’t even say it out loud yet) without all the demigod bullshit, if he had figured it out organically. Even falling for a straight boy, a normal straight boy, would’ve been better than this hero worship-turned-rage, than fucking beating off in the woods, praying there were no ghosts around to see, bile rising up in his throat afterwards in rage and disgust and _shame._

Anyway. Thinking about Percy doesn’t make him feel like that anymore. It feels more like poking an old bruise—painful, but in a weirdly satisfying way. Acknowledging that even though the bruise is there now, it will go away soon.

Nico’s actually kind of worried about Percy (like, in a “that person is my friend and I care about them” way, not in a “I will recklessly jump through any and all hoops to make this person LOOK AT ME” kind of way). He sees the dark circles under Percy’s eyes, can feel the exhaustion radiating off of him. Insomnia fueled by nightmares, probably, like how Nico was on the Argo II. He’s not sure how many other people notice.

Percy, Jason, and Nico sit together during meals. It’s technically against the rules, but Percy and Jason’s shouted conversations from across the dining pavilion were starting to piss off even the Demeter cabin, so Chiron stuck them at the Hades table with Nico.

Percy looks tired during dinner. He’s cajoling with Jason, playing no-homo-bro footsie with him under the table (kicking Nico’s shins in the process), but he’s only eaten half his food. His teeth, bared in an almost crazy grin, look a little yellow. He hasn’t shaved in a few days and he has three fresh-looking, shallow scratches starting from the top of his cheekbone and ending at the corner of his lip. Nothing a monster would’ve done, but they look like they’d at least broken skin.

“What happened to your face, Percy?” Nico asks. Percy stills, hand flying up to his cheek, and Jason saves Percy’s glass of Coke from near death.

“Cut myself shaving,” he says.

Percy’s a horrible liar. He doesn’t meet Nico’s eyes when he says it, and Nico can see the flush of red creeping up from below his shirt collar.

“Were you shaving with a fork, dude?” Jason quirks his eyebrows at him.

“How about,” Percy’s hand goes down to the table with a little too much force. His teeth are still bared, but not in a smile. “It’s none of you fuckin’ business?”

 “Whoa.” Jason raises his hands, palms out. “Sorry. I can give you tips if you need ‘em, man. No need to get touchy.”

Percy sags, resting his chin in his hand. “Whatever, bro.” His fingers absentmindedly play with a perfectly coiled curl next to his ear. Percy’s eyes skitter back to Nico. Nico looks away.

“Why are you always staring at me like that?”

Nico’s throat goes dry. “Like what?”

“Like you’re—I dunno. Like you’re trying to read me or something.”

“Sorry.” Nico shrugs. “That’s just my face. You’re not that interesting.”

Jason snorts into his water cup and a smile tugs on the corner of Percy’s lips. Percy looks down at Nico’s plate.

“If you’re not gonna eat your potatoes, can I have ‘em?”

Nico slides the entire plate to Percy.

 

“Will, what do you know about,” Nico stops, frowns. What’s the word— “Shellshock?" 

“Um.” Will makes a note on his clipboard. “Hold on.”

They’re alone in the infirmary storeroom because Will’s a stupid work-a-holic and insists on doing inventory during post-dinner free time. Nico’s reading _Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers (Revised and Expanded Edition)_ , which is enthralling, obviously, but the thing with Percy (it’s always a Thing With Percy) is niggling at his mind.

Will sets his clipboard down and leans back on the shelf behind him, stretching out his legs on the floor to tangle with Nico’s. “It’s called PTSD now, old timer,” Will says. Nico kicks Will’s feet half-heartedly. “I know a little about it. I’m not a psychologist or anything, though. Are you asking for yourself or for a friend?”

“A friend,” Nico answers quickly. “It’s—I mean. Percy’s kind of been reminding me of some of the guys who came back from the war when I lived in Italy. I don’t think he’s been sleeping or anything. And I think he scratched his own face.”

Will sets his jaw and his shoulders snap back, like, _Doctor Solace is in the building._ “You think Percy’s hurting himself?”

 “Probably not on purpose.” Nico shrugs. “He’s probably just messed up about. You know. His entire childhood.”

Will laughs. Nico blushes.

“Prophecy kid _twice,_ ” Will muses. “Wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Have you talked to him?”

“About what?”

“Well, normally when you’re worried about your friends, you go and talk to them.”

“Percy’s not—”

“Not your friend?” Will stares at him. “If I’m remembering correctly, he sailed halfway across the world to find you. Sounds like he cares about you.”

“Our relationship is—complicated.” Nico shifts uncomfortably. “Can we stop talking about this?”

Will finally breaks eye contact. “Sure, Nico.”

 

The Romans come that week—well, the fun ones, anyway. The centurions arrive late at night (or early in the morning?). Nico knows this because he’d screamed himself awake forty-five minutes prior and is now staring at the ceiling of his cabin, considering jacking off to see if it’ll exhaust him enough to fall back asleep, when he hears hushed voices outside the cabins and the steady _clop-clop-clop_ of Chiron’s hooves. Nico rolls out of bed and grabs his sword (because he’d be _so_ helpful in a fight barefoot, sporting a pair of Harvard sweats that Annabeth outgrew two years ago and a t-shirt from a restaurant called _Niko’s Greek Tavern_ that Reyna had mailed him) and peeks out the window. 

He can see a group of maybe a dozen people, led by Reyna, unmistakable in her height and posture even in the dimness of the pavilion. He spots Hazel’s bright hair, pulled back in a ponytail and puffed up like cotton candy, and he subconsciously bounces on the balls of his feet.

It’s been nearly a month since Nico almost faded away. Will had basically banned him from shadow travelling for the remainder of the summer, but the group is being led towards Big House and Nico wants to see Hazel _now._

He steps out of the shadows in the Big House game-slash-prophecy-discussion-room. The furniture has been pushed against the walls and replaced by bedrolls, which Nico promptly collapses onto face-first.

“Nico!” Hazel scrambles up from her bedroll and helps him sit up. He feels shaky and loose in his own skin and he’s blinking away black spots. He puts his head between his knees and takes shallow breaths. “Are you alright?”

“How’d the little creep know which room the girls were staying in?” Nico hears someone mutter, quickly followed by a hiss of, “ _Shut up!”_ and the sound of stumbling boots.

“I’m fine,” Nico says in a much smaller voice than he intended. He grabs Hazel’s hand and rests his cheek on his knee so he can look at her. “Come stay in the Hades cabin with me. I missed you.”

Hazel looks up at Reyna. She must’ve given a nod of approval, because Hazel stands and helps Nico to his feet.

 

The centurions get sorted into their godly parent’s cabins at breakfast the next morning. Nico and Hazel bee-line to the Big Three table, where Percy and Jason are already sitting. They both stand and hug Hazel.

“How was your trip out?” Jason asks after they’ve settled back down.

“It was fine. We chartered a flight straight here, so uneventful.”

Nico alternates between sipping his black coffee and ripping his toast up into smaller and smaller pieces throughout their conversation. He’d fallen back asleep after Hazel came, but it was light and fitful, and he feels more tired now than he did when he went to bed last night. Percy looks about as tired as Nico feels—he’d shaved, but his eyes are rimmed red and there are four crescent-shaped bruises on the inside of his elbow, a few inches below his SPQR tattoo.

The centurions and head counselors meet during post-lunch free time ( _riposo_ , Nico calls it, remembering the midday lull of Venice) to discuss possible camp integration. Nico sits between Will and Lou Ellen while Hazel shoots him long-suffering glances from across the room the entire time. Will keeps sneaking Nico rice crackers under the table and pinching his leg until he eats them. Nico eats seven.

 

Reyna and Nico escape from the evening campfire early and sneak back to the Hades cabin. 

“When was the last time you had a haircut, Nico?” Reyna’s standing in the doorway of Nico’s bathroom (Hades cabin gets its own bathroom because he’s special like that), absentmindedly drying her hands on her pant leg. Nico shrugs.

“Dunno. I usually trim my own bangs when they get in my eyes, but other than that…” He certainly hasn’t been to a barber shop in _this_ lifetime.

“Your split ends are atrocious. You look like you’re going grey prematurely.” Reyna turns around and starts rifling through the bathroom cabinets. “Let me cut it.”

Nico self-consciously twists a strand of hair around his finger. His hair is just starting to brush his shoulders. “I like it long.”

“I’ll leave it long.” Reyna emerges with a pair of scissors that Nico knows he didn’t put in there. “I’ll just cut off the dead ends. It’ll look nicer. And softer.”

They sit quietly for a while. She starts with his bangs and Nico has to stop her to sneeze, like, three times. She moves around him, just out of his sightline, wrapping her legs lazily around his. Nico watches his thick, black hair fall onto the cabin floor.

“Reyna.” Nico swallows. His palms are sweating. “I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.” Her voice is soft. Nico’s stomach clenches painfully.

“I—um. I’m gay.” He swallows again, blinks hard. 

“Oh.” Reyna doesn’t stop what she’s doing. “Thanks for telling me, Nico. I’m glad you trust me.”

“You knew, right? From the power transfers.”

“No.” She shifts to the other side of his head. “I don’t really get fully-formed thoughts from that, just impressions. I knew you felt like you didn’t belong. I knew you were hiding something personal. But nothing that specific.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Am I the first person you’ve told?”

“Jason knows.”

Reyna raises her eyebrows. “Really?”

“I didn’t want to tell him. I was forced.” Nico can _feel_ Reyna’s shoulder muscles lock. “Not by him! He wouldn’t do that. Eros made me, Jason just happened to be there.”

“Good.” Reyna relaxes. “Well, not good, that’s terrible. But I was about to go beat his white ass.”

Nico lets out a laugh, shrill and maybe a little hysterical. Reyna moves to the back and Nico works on controlling his breathing.

“Are you okay?” Reyna asks after a few minutes, setting the scissors down and running her fingers through Nico’s hair.

“Yeah. I’m okay.” Nico pauses. “I’m thinking about telling Hazel.”

“You should.”

“You don’t think she’d. You know.”

“What, reject you?” Reyna scoots to sit across from him, leaning her shoulder on the bedframe. Nico sighs.

“I don’t _know_ , Reyna. I don’t know her history with that sort of thing. Things were different back then _._ ”

“You have to give her more credit,” Reyna says softly. “No offense Nico, but you’re not an easy person to love. But she loves you anyway. I don’t think being gay is going to be the deal breaker in your relationship.”

“Gee, thanks,” Nico grunts.

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.”

 

All the high schoolers get properly sloshed in the Dionysus cabin, because the Romans are here, and they all just fought a goddamn _war,_ and they deserve it. Nico technically doesn’t attend high school, but he goes anyway. Mostly because Jason and Percy show up at his cabin and annoy him and Reyna into submission. And, yeah, a fruity drink from Jason’s fancy S’well bottle may have been involved in the form of bribery, but let it be said that Nico and Reyna _tried_ to resist. 

He ends up behind the cabin with Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen. There’s a sewing needle stolen from the Athena cabin’s sewing kit and baggie of ice from the Hermes cabin’s cooler in the latter’s hands.

“Which ear?” Lou Ellen asks.

Cecil takes an ice cube and presses it against Nico’s left ear lobe. Will grasps at Nico’s bicep on his free side and giggles, “Sto-op, this is so unsanitary, we’re sitting in _dirt._ ”

“The right ear’s the gay ear,” Cecil offers up, switching the ice cube to the back side of the lobe.

Nico snorts. “Well, I wouldn’t want people thinking that I’m OW, Lou Ellen!” Nico’s hand grabs for the nearest soft thing (Will’s thigh) and his voice cracks on her name in that way it’s been doing more and more often. “A little warning would’ve been nice.”

“You’re fine,” Lou Ellen states. She undoes one of her earrings, a tiny gold hoop, plucks the needle out of Nico’s ear and fastens it for him. “There. Now we’re pirates.”

“My lifelong dream. How’d you know.” Nico fingers the little earring and Will reaches across Nico’s body, pulling him away with his free hand (because Will’s other hand is on Nico’s hand which is still on Will’s thigh).

“Don’t touch it, Nico,” Will murmurs. His breath smells like wine. “You hafta—we have to get disin _fect_ ant.”

“Chill out, Doc,” Cecil chides. He throws an ice cube at Will and misses abysmally. “Nico’ll live through our dumb teenage shenanigans.”

“We’ll give you a Viking funeral if you don’t make it,” Lou Ellen says solemnly.

“Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, done in by an infected piercing,” Cecil proclaims. “May he live on in blessed memory.”

“Okay, yeah, thanks, Rabbi Markowitz,” Will snipes, but there’s no heat behind it. Then, in Greek, “ _May your insurance be denied next time you go to the doctor_.”

“Lord Apollo wouldn’t do that to his _favorite_ nephew,” Cecil gasps in mock outrage. “Look how tan I am! He clearly favors me.”

“You are so thirsty, Cecil.” Lou Ellen rolls her eyes like they’ve had this conversation before.

“Well, you know what they say about guys with big chariots, Louie.” 

“Ewwwwww, y’all, that is my _dad_ , you can’t thirst after my dad!” Will buries his face in the crook of Nico’s neck and squeezes his hand tighter.

“I thirst follow your dad on Twitter,” Cecil stage-whispers.

“Al-right, kiddos!” Their heads snap up in an almost comical synchrony at Percy standing above them. “Come back inside before the dryads snitch on us.”

“Also,” Connor’s head pops up from behind Percy. “Pollux just brought out the Fireball and Paolo is going _apeshit._ ”

Percy leans down and tugs Nico up by the shoulders. Nico shoves him off quickly, blindly reaching behind him until Will grabs his hand again.

Percy’s expression crumples like a soda can. “What, he can touch you and I can’t?"

“That’s right.” Nico glowers up at him—they’re almost the same height now, Nico’s eyes level with Percy’s nose instead of his chin—and stomps off back to the cabin, Will Solace in tow.

 

The rest of the night is a blur. His downfall is the Fireball, for sure. Will ditches him at some point to dance, which is perfectly fine with Nico, who’s a wallflower by nature anyway. 

Hazel and him go back to their cabin together. He must be breathing kind of hard, and the sky is spinning, and he’s probably leaning on Hazel a little too heavily, because Hazel stops them at the door to their cabin and says, “Are you feeling okay?” a little more forcefully than Nico’s used to.

“Um.” Nico leans on the door and almost falls down as it opens. “Yeah. Gonna puke, though.”

Hazel leads him to the bathroom by his hand and deposits him on the floor in front of the toilet. She grabs Nico’s stupid plastic Captain America cup he uses to brush his teeth and fills is up with tap water.

“Drink.”

“Mmm. One sec,” Nico says, then leans over the toilet and throws up. It’s all liquid. The Fireball burns more coming up than going down, but at least those rice crackers didn’t go to waste.

He’s vaguely aware of Hazel’s fingers pulling his hair away from his face and neck with one hand and rubbing his back with the other.

“Gross,” Nico says when he’s done. He flushes, closes the lid of the toilet, and leans back against it.

“Yeah,” Hazel smiles. She places the cup in his hands and he drinks it gratefully.

“Thanks, Hazel.”

She refills the cup and gives it back to him.

“I love you, Hazel.”

“I love you too.”

“Hazel, I—” Nico wipes his bangs away from his clammy forehead. They’re damp with sweat. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while.”

“Nico.” Hazel frowns. “You’re drunk.”

“You noticed.”

“Nico,” she repeats, grabbing his hand. “Whatever it is, it can wait until the morning. You’re not—“ Hazel cocks her head. “Is that an earring?”

“Oh. Yeah. Lou Ellen pierced it for me.”

“When?”

“Like, two hours ago.”

Hazel rolls her eyes. “Let’s go to bed, dummy.”  

 

Nico’s only respite is the cool wood of the Hades table. 

The sun is too bright, too hot, making his head pound right between his eyes. His stomach is roiling.

“Rough night?” Jason asks, sliding onto the bench next to him. His plate of food is repugnant and Nico’s hands fly up to cover his nose and mouth, shooting Jason a weak glare. “Here. Eat some of this.”

Nico shakes his head vigorously.

“You’re not gonna feel any better unless you eat something,” Jason states.

Hazel and Percy sit down, the former with her usual breakfast and the latter with a mug of coffee and a plate of white toast. He lets it clatter on the table and plonks down onto the bench just as heavily. He stuffs an entire piece of toast in his mouth.

 “Nico, d’ya think Solace is in the infirmary?” Percy asks.

“No, I think he’s at breakfast like the rest of the camp.”

“Ugh.” Percy puts his head in his hand. “I need Advil stat.”

“What, Annabeth didn’t have any?” Jason asks.

“She probably _does_ , but I may or may not have spewed on her shoes last night.” Percy takes a huge swig of coffee. “She’s been ignoring me all morning.”

“You deserve that,” Jason says mildly.

“What kind of bro _are_ you, bro?” Percy whines.

“You and Nico can go to the infirmary after breakfast together,” Hazel suggests.

“You hungover too, buddy?” Nico nods. “Have some toast. It’s good for you.”

“Have Will look at your ear, too,” Hazel says. Nico frowns. Then—

“Oh my gods.” The earring. 

“What? What happened to your ear?” Percy asks, bewildered.

“Nothing.” Nico starts meticulously separating the crust from the bread. “Lou Ellen pierced it.”

“Oh, dude, that’s badass!” Percy exclaims.

Nico flushes.

 

Luckily (or maybe not), Will is in the infirmary after breakfast. 

“What’s up, Doc?” Percy says in a nasally voice and pulls a pose. He waggles his eyebrows at Nico and deflates slightly when he’s met with a flat look. “Ugh, seriously, Nico? Bugs Bunny?”

“Casino,” is Nico’s reply.

“What can I help you with, Percy?” Will interrupts pleasantly.

“Can I get some Advil? My head’s killing me.”

“Sure.” Will turns around and starts rifling in the cabinets behind him. “What brought this on?”

“Booze, probably. Nico’s gonna need some, too.”

Will opens a small white bottle and taps four pills into the lid. “Seriously? You’re hungover too?”

“What can I say.” Nico grabs two Dixie cups and fills them at the tap. “I’m a lightweight.”

Percy snorts. Nico hands a cup to Percy and then looks expectantly at Will. Will looks right back.

“Have you guys eaten today?”

“I only had toast,” Percy says.

“That’s okay. Hold out your hand, I’m gonna tap two pills into it. Nico?”

“Me too.”

Percy tosses both pills into his mouth, takes a swig of water, and says, “He’s lying. All he did was rip it up.”

Nico shoots Percy what he hopes is a withering glare, but Percy seems unaffected. Will sighs and crouches to look into one of the lower cabinets. He stands and plops a sleeve of crackers onto the counter.

“If you eat three saltines, you can have painkillers.”

Percy makes an unbelieving sound. “You guys have been _hoarding snacks?_ ”

Will rolls his eyes. “We’re not hoarding snacks. They’re for patients.”

“Why do I have to eat these?” Nico grumbles.

“Because I don’t want you taking painkillers on an empty stomach.”

“Then I won’t take painkillers.”

“You’re being seriously immature right now.”

“Nico,” Percy says. “Just eat the crackers.”

“Why are you still here?” Nico snaps. “Mind your own business.”

Percy suddenly looks _furious_ , and for about half a second Nico thinks Percy’s going to hit him. Instead, Percy spins on his heel and storms out of the infirmary, letting the screen door slam behind him.

“Holy Hera, Nico,” Will finally says. “Why do you treat him like that?”

Nico blinks. “Treat him like what?”

Will sets out three crackers on a paper towel, perfectly straight and aligned with each other. “He tries to be nice to you and you throw it right back in his face. Like, there’s a difference between snapping at your friends once in a while and straight up treating them like shit.”

Nico deflates. “I didn’t realize.”

Will motions for Nico to come sit on the stool behind the counter. Nico settles down on it as Will searches through a drawer. “This thing with you and Percy. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not particularly.”

“Okay.” Will flashes Nico an alcohol swab and grabs his own stool, rolling it in to sit in front of Nico. He tucks Nico’s hair behind his ear (ohmygods) and inspects the new piercing. “Wanna talk about your eating habits instead?”

“They’re fine.”

“They’re not.” Will rips the swab open. “This might sting.”

“You worry too much,” Nico says, hissing a little at the swab.

“No, you don’t worry enough.” Will pulls back and disposes of the swab. “You’re not on a quest. You don’t have to force your body into starvation mode.”

“I’m not—”

“Look.” Will grabs one of Nico’s hands and flicks at one of his nails. It bends when Will pushes on it and Nico yanks his hand away, stomach lurching. “Nico, you’re not the first person at camp to come in with this. We have meal plans drawn up and everything, and I swear I won’t tell anyone. We’ll start small. Okay?”

Nico swallows the lump that’s formed in his throat. He feels a little detached from his body, except for the fact that his head feels like it’s being hit repeatedly with a sledge hammer.

“Fine,” Nico chokes out. “Can we start with the painkillers?”

 

Nico spends lunch on the roof of the Hades cabin. The sun actually feels kind of good now, but it’s the reason he doesn’t notice Hazel until she’s basically sitting next to him. 

“Will told me to give you this,” she says as she crosses her legs. She’s holding something wrapped in tin foil. “He says you have to eat at least half.”

Nico eyes it warily. “What is it?" 

“Grilled cheese.”

Grilled cheese. Nico can handle grilled cheese. He takes it and unwraps it, nibbling at the corner. It’s pretty inoffensive, so Nico hazards a bigger bite.

“There was something you wanted to tell me?”

The food turns to ash in Nico’s mouth. “Nope.”

“Nico,” Hazel sighs. She’s exasperated, Nico can tell. “Something’s been weighing on you for a while. I can tell. I’m your sister.”

“It’s really mundane. It’s not really important.”

“We could all use mundane, I think.” Hazel gives him a small but reassuring smile. “And if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.”

Nico takes another bite of his sandwich. He’s halfway to halfway.

“Well.” Nico picks at the cuff of his jeans with his free hand. It’s rolled up mid-calf since none of his pants are really long enough anymore. “I have a crush on someone.”

“That’s amazing, Nico!” Hazel perks up immediately, a smile illuminating her face. “Do I know her?”

Nico’s heart _sinks._ He can feel himself shutting down, the way he did with Jason in the beginning. Hazel notices, and the smile melts away.

 _Stupid, stupid, stupid,_ chants that voice in Nico’s head. _She won’t understand. She’ll think you’re more of a freak than she already does._

“Nico?” Hazel touches Nico’s shoulder and he jerks away.

“Gimme a second.” He’s overreacting. He knows he’s overreacting. He fixes his eyes on the horizon, letting the steady tide of the sound calm his breathing. He takes another bite of his sandwich, chews, swallows. “Hazel?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you freak out if I—if I told you the person I have a crush on is a boy?”

“Oh!” Hazel sits up a little straighter, like his words had physically shocked her. “No! No, I wouldn’t freak out.”

“Okay.” Nico can’t finish the sandwich. He wraps it up and places it gingerly in on the roof. “I have a crush on Will Solace.”

“Oh!” She says again. “Wow!” She starts fiddling with some curls that have come loose from her ponytail, sticking them back in place and tucking them under other curls. Nico tries to make eye contact with her but her eyes are darting back and forth, not really settling on anything.

“Hazel, you’re freaking out.”

“I’m sorry!” Hazel lets out an exasperated sigh and lets her hands fall into her lap. “I just—I didn’t expect—you don’t seem like a queer.” Nico flinches at that word. “The twenty-first century is a little much for me.”

“You were born two years before me,” Nico grumbles.

“Our situations are different and you know it.” Hazel puts her hand on Nico’s shoulder again. 

Nico’s face is burning with embarrassment and he’s dangerously close to having to choke back tears. He looks away from her, analyzing the roof of the cabin next over.

“Nico, please look at me.” Slowly, Nico turns back to her. She grabs both his hands, shifting so they’re criss-cross-applesauce facing each other. “I’m sorry I overreacted and I’m sorry I made you upset. But I’m still your sister and I still love you. I just need some time to get used to it.”

Nico nods. He doesn’t look her in the eye, instead studying the contrast of their hands. They used to be greenish-white-against-greyish-brown, but now they’re closer to caramel-on-coffee.

“It took you time to get used to it too, right? I mean, how long have you known?”

“Like, four years.”

Hazel’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. “Nico, you’ve known you were a queer since you were _ten?_ ”

“Can you not call me that?” Nico snaps, snatching his hands away.

“Ugh!” Hazel’s hands fly up to cover her face. “I’m sorry! I keep messing this up!”

“I—” Nico starts twisting his ring. The sharp pain of it is familiar, grounding. “ _Gods,_ Hazel, we are both so messed up.”

Nico pries Hazel’s fingers off her eyes. She starts giggling, and he starts laughing, and they collapse in a messy, Underworld-y heap, basking in the sun.

 

“I came out to Hazel,” Nico tells Jason after swords class that day. They’re in the communal bathrooms, throwing cold water on their faces and trying to appear somewhat presentable for their next activity. They’ve been leading swordsmanship together for the middle school-aged kids since they got back to camp, and Nico came to class today with a renewed energy. He’d disarmed Jason with five moves in today’s demonstration and he felt focused and content throughout the period. 

“Oh my gods!” Jason grins and crushes Nico in a horrible, sweaty hug.

“Nooooooooo,” Nico protests, trying (and failing) to shove away from Jason’s embrace. “You’re horrible. Get off me. You’re so horrible and so sweaty and you smell like wet dog and boy.”

“I’m so proud of you,” Jason says when he finally releases Nico from his clutches. “How did it go?”

“I’ll only tell you if you agree to never touch me again. I probably smell terrible now.”

“You smelled terrible before I hugged you,” Jason retorts, rolling his eyes. “You’ve smelled horrible all summer. It’s _happening_ , di Angelo. Like, look how hairy you already are. Welcome to the smelly man club.” Jason pokes at Nico’s bare stomach, right below his bellybutton, where a trail of dark hair down to his boxers had appeared seemingly overnight.

Nico swats Jason’s hands away and turns around to apply deodorant and put his shirt back on, expertly hiding the heat that had risen to his cheeks.

“It went okay,” Nico says, turning his attention back to the mirror to try and make his hair look presentable instead of the sweat-and-grease trap it actually was. “She freaked out a little, but she said she just needs some time to get used to it.”

“That’s not so bad,” Jason replies.

“Could’ve been worse,” Nico agrees.

“Do you have arts and crafts next?” Jason starts tying his shoes.

“Yep.” Nico gives up on his hair and resigns himself to tying it up into the world’s most pitiful ponytail.

“Nice, me too. If you sit next to me I could teach you about all the secrets of manhood."

“Do those lessons include leaving me the hell alone?”

“No, I think today’s lesson is going to focus of the wonders of facewash!” Jason barely lets Nico get into a retort before pulling him out of the bathroom by the hair.

 

The Romans leave that week. There was talk about an exchange program next summer—Camp Half-Blood technically has a session during winter break that’s pretty popular, but things are still a little chaotic in the wake of the war and both camps had agreed not to shake things up so soon. 

Nico’s nightmares had been better with Hazel there. Still not great—he’d woken Hazel up with his thrashing and screaming more than once during her visit, but human touch calmed him down quicker than he thought it would. He slept better that week than he had in years.

With her gone, they crept back. He wasn’t as bad as he’d been on the Argo II—he was sleeping, after all, even marginally; Nico’s memories from his time between the jar and carrying the Athena Parthenos were all tinged black around the edges from exhaustion and fear. However, he rarely sleeps through the night.

More often than not, he wakes up with a start and manages to fall back asleep after a while. Sometimes he wakes up screaming and is up for the rest of the night. Less often, but often enough that he knows the symptoms, he flies out of bed and completely trashes his cabin, convinced he’s back in Tartarus and desperately trying to claw his way out, mostly unconsciously. 

It’s one of those nights.

When he comes to, the haze of orange and stench of sulfur fading from his senses, he’s panting hard and his sheets are still twisted up between his legs. His dresser is overturned and Hazel’s bed is much farther away from the wall than it should’ve been, but most of the damage is on himself. His arms are covered in deep gouges and there’s blood under his fingernails.

Nico shudders, heart stammering, and his breathing doesn’t slow down as he stumbles his way to the bathroom. He flicks the light on and wrestles his t-shirt over his head, grabbing a washcloth and running cool water over it. He presses it over the scratches, which cools his hot skin, but he can still feel himself losing control of his breathing.

He can’t be in here. His own reflection swims in front of him, and, _fuck_ , Nico hasn’t hurt himself like this in _years_ , and even though it wasn’t on purpose it’s _bad._

As if on auto-pilot, Nico pulls his shirt back on and manages to find his slides before slipping out of his cabin and into the cool-but-still-sticky mid-summer night air. He practically runs to the beach, sinking down onto the sand on his hands and knees. His breathing is still too quick and shallow, but the pain in his chest is beginning to unfurl.

“Nico?”

Nico jerks and jumps to his feet and, like, it’s just Percy (it wouldn’t be anyone other than Percy, would it? That’s just Nico’s fucking luck), but the startle makes another rush on panic come on, and Nico goes down, curling into himself.

“Hey, shit, Nico, hey,” Percy stammers, and Nico feels him sit down on the sand next to him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Can I touch you?”

Nico nods and Percy’s big hand is on his back, rubbing slow circles. “Just try and match me, okay?”

It takes an embarrassingly long time for Nico to calm down. Percy had leaned his head on Nico’s shoulder and he can hear that Percy’s slow breaths match the circles he makes on Nico’s back.

“You can stop now,” Nico finally says. His voice sounds raw, even to his own ears. “What are you doing out here?”

“Same as you, probably,” Percy answers. He gently traces one of the scratches near Nico’s elbow. Nico’s too strung out to even move away. “Did you do this to yourself?”

“How come you can ask questions like that and I can’t?” Nico finally turns to meet Percy’s eyes. They look weirdly empty.

“Fair point,” Percy concedes. “What was your nightmare about?”

“Tartarus. You?”

“Tartarus.”

Nico squints at Percy, who’s still staring at him vacantly and a little unfocused. “Where are you right now?”

“Phlegathon.”

“We’re not there, Percy.”

“I know.”

“Can you hear the ocean right now?”

“No.”

“Do you want to go in?”

Percy goes completely rigid and his empty eyes fill with fear. “No. I’ll drown.”

“I—okay. We can stay here then.” Nico frowns. He feels like he’s just run a marathon, but he’s not panicking anymore. He’s also completely and wholly unprepared to deal with this. Nico figured a quick dip in the water would bring Percy back to himself, but maybe he can’t control his powers in this state. Maybe he really would drown.

“You can go back to your cabin if you don’t wanna deal with me,” Percy says. His muscles are still taught but his eyes are vacant again.

“I’m good here,” Nico states. “My cabin’s trashed anyway.”

“Mine too. Stupid fountain floods every time I get worked up.”

Nico snickers a little and is rewarded by a small smile from Percy.

“Why don’t we lie down for a bit? I’ll make sure we don’t fall asleep so the harpies don’t eat us,” Nico suggests. That’s what he usually does on nights like this, anyway.

Percy doesn’t respond, just follows instructions, lying on his back with his eyes wide open. Nico does the same. Percy grabs Nico’s wrist and holds on, tight.

They lie there for longer than Nico expected, honestly, before Percy lets go of him abruptly, sits up, and says, “I’m here.”

“Good.” Nico sits up too. “I was getting a little worried.”

“How long…?”

“We were lying down for, like, fifteen minutes. But we’ve probably been here close to half an hour.” Percy nods. “Do you remember talking to me?”

“Not really,” Percy says with a grimace. “Did I say anything weird?”

“I asked if you wanted to go in the water and you told me if you did you’d drown.”

“Hm.” Percy rests his chin on his knees. He makes no effort to explain himself.

“You also told me you flooded your cabin.”

Percy smiles with only half his mouth. “I bet I did. I hate that stupid fountain.”

“So.” Nico starts drawing patterns in the sand in front of him. “Does this happen a lot?”

“Since when do you care?” Percy’s anger is so sudden it gives Nico whiplash, and he must’ve made a shocked expression because Percy’s face falls and he makes an aborted movement towards Nico. “Shit! I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” Nico interrupts. “I get it. But, for the record, I do care. About you.” 

Percy twists his mouth, probably unsure of what to say. _It’s not like you show it_ , Will’s voice says in the back of Nico’s head.

“It happens,” Percy says, stopping that well-tread line of thought in Nico’s head. “A lot. Only a few minutes at a time during the day, but often enough that it feels like all my memories have been thrown in a blender by the end of it. It happens for longer after nightmares. I think I’ve been awake and walking around for a few hours.”

“That’s pretty dangerous.”

“The harpies wouldn’t _really_ eat me,” Percy shrugs.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t know how to deal with it.” Percy drops his head into his hands, fingers threading into his hair.

“Do you talk to Annabeth about it?” Nico’s deeply uncomfortable with his role in this conversation—he’s not the most empathetic of people, and he and Percy have been avoiding each other since their fight in the infirmary. It’s made for a lot of awkward meals.

“I can’t talk to her about it. That’s not fair to her. And, I mean—” Percy sits up, staring out into the ocean. “We don’t talk about much of anything anymore.”

“What?” Nico tries not to sound totally taken aback, even though he is.

“Things aren’t going great,” Percy mutters, almost to himself. “I still love her. I think I always will. But I think she’s afraid of me. And every time I look at her I see—” Percy chokes off the end of the sentence.

“Yeah,” Nico breathes. “I know exactly what you mean.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t noticed,” Percy remarks. “Piper cornered me about it, like, last week. I thought you liked Annabeth.”

“Of course I like Annabeth?”

“No, I mean.” Percy cocks his head. “I thought you had a crush on Annabeth.”

Nico is floored. Is Percy really that stupid? That’s got to be it—in no way was Nico subtle. Like, ever.

“Um.” Nico’s hands had stopped drawing and now he’s just pressing his hands flat against the sand. “No. I never had a crush on Annabeth.”

“Really? During the Titan War you were always so much nicer to her than me. And you always had this look in your eyes when you saw her. And you led the others to the Doors to find us.” Percy shrugs. “Kinda figured that was for her.”

“That was for both of you,” Nico says in a rush. Better to spit it out now than put it off till gods know when. “Percy, I know we have a complicated history and I know I’ve been an asshole to you, especially since we’ve gotten back to camp, and I want to say that I’m sorry and it’s nothing you’ve done and the reason I snap at you is because I had a crush on you for a really long time and I’m actually still kind of getting over it and I don’t really want to be gay and I didn’t want you to know because I thought it would make you, I don’t know, hate me? Oh, gods.” Nico buries his face in his knees. This is even worse than what happened with Hazel.

“Um. Wow.” Percy gapes. “That is not what I was expecting.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize!” Percy says quickly. “It’s fine, seriously. I grew up in New York City, Nico. That doesn’t bother me, but I’m sorry it bothers you.”

“I’ll get over it,” Nico shrugs. “Probably.”

“Wait, so the reason you were mean to me all these years was because you liked me?” Percy has that stupid impish Percy-grin on his face, which, at this point, is honestly a relief.

“Well, my crush on you made me uncomfortable, so therefore you made me uncomfortable, so I was. Not very nice.”

“I’d hate to see how you treat the next guy.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “I think I’m over that stage.”

“Well, you’re welcome for being your guinea pig.”

“You didn’t even do anything.”

“I choked you out that one time, in Hades,” Percy pointed out. “Sexual awakening, maybe? Did that go into the spank bank?”

“Ew! No! I thought you were gonna kill me and I was _twelve_ when that happened!” Nico cries. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Could you do me a favor and keep this to yourself?”

Percy laughs. “Sure.” He looks off into the horizon, which is getting suspiciously bright. “Thanks for helping me tonight, Nico. We should do this more often.”

“What, talk about my sexuality crisis? No thanks,” Nico sneers.

“Well, we don’t have to do that exactly,” Percy says, meeting Nico’s eyes. “But we should hang out more. You snapped me out of it way quicker than I can do myself. Are you feeling any better now?”

“Yeah,” Nico says quietly. Surprisingly, he does—he feels normal when he should feel like he just got run over by a truck.

“Wanna head back with me?” Percy asks, standing and brushing sand off his pants. “Might try and squeeze in some shut-eye before breakfast.”

“Sure,” Nico says, taking Percy’s offered hand and pulling himself up.

 

“So, are you staying year-round?” Will asks Nico as summer starts wrapping itself up. 

Nico shrugs and throws a blue shell on the track, eliciting an angry squeal from Will. “I guess. Got nowhere to go, really. You?”

“I’ve been a year-rounder since I started here,” Will answers. When he’s not talking, his tongue sticks out between his lips in concentration. It’s really cute.

“Oh. Your mom’s not around?”

“She’s around, she just lives in Texas and we’ve always been kinda poor, so.” Will pitches himself off the track, curses, and drops the controller. “It’s easier this way. Gods, am I shit at this game.”

“Shouldn’t have challenged the master.”

Will rolls his eyes but smiles when he does it.

“What do you guys do during the off-season?” Nico asks.

“Same as summer, really, just with less people,” Will says. “I actually started at the local high school last year, so I’ll be going back for sophomore year. If I wanna go to med school, I need a high school diploma.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“You should try it out!” Will suggests brightly. “You’re probably meant to be a freshman, right? We could take the bus together. Chiron would be fine with it.”

Nico smiles wryly. “I don’t really think I’m smart enough to go to school.”

“Of course you are,” Will pouts (like, actually pouts, lower lip sticking out, the whole shebang). “You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

“You don’t have to say that, Will.” Nico ducks his head, embarrassed. “Besides, I kind of technically don’t exist. Don’t I need a social or something to go to public school?”

“Nico, I mean it.” Will grabs Nico’s hand. “You’re a great strategist, you speak four languages, and you know how to talk to people, and don’t say you can’t because I’ve seen it. _And_ you’re really nice _and_ you’re pretty cute for a guy who doesn’t even own a hairbrush.”

Nico collapses into the crook of Will’s neck, giggling and trying to cover Will’s mouth with his hand. Will shoves it off and tries to wrestle Nico away, but they just end up rolling around on Nico’s bed and knocking their controllers onto the cabin floor. 

Will manages to pin Nico so they’re lying down facing each other. Will’s hands are between them, holding Nico’s wrists. Nico’s face is so close to Will’s that he can see that his blue eyes are flecked with gold. And they’re staring right at him. Nico’s only consolation about the flush he can feel creeping up his neck is that the tips of Will’s ears have turned bright pink.

“Nico?”

Nico swallows roughly. “Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Nico’s stomach flips. “Yeah.”

Will’s lips are soft and warm. Nico’s so fucking nervous, he’s probably shaking, and he doesn’t really know what to do—this is his _first kiss_ , gods. This happens to other people, this doesn’t happen to Nico.

Except it is.

It doesn’t go on for very long, but if feels like an eternity. Will’s fingers are tangled with Nico’s now, their hands pressed kind of uncomfortably between their chests. Will kisses him one more time before pulling away.

“Ah. Well.” Will smiles, looking a little bewildered. “I really like you, Nico.”

“I gathered.” Will shoots him a Look. Nico cracks a smile. “I like you too.”

“Mm. Good.” Will closes his eyes for a moment and breathes out, long and steady, through his nose before continuing. “I’m glad you’re staying for the year. I think we should. Do this again.”

“Yeah.” Nico’s smiling in earnest now. He’s not shaking anymore. “I think we should too.”

 

Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper all leave together. They go the same morning as all the other summer campers, and take the same van to the train station as everyone else going to New York City. For Jason and Piper it’s just a connection; they have a flight to San Francisco that night. Percy’s going back to his mom’s in lower Harlem, and Annabeth is staying with Rachel in Brooklyn for the school year. 

Jason manhandles Nico into a hug before he leaves. The guy’s fucking huge—Nico actually thinks he’s grown _more_ in the two months they’ve spent at camp. Jason’s half a head taller than Percy even, which is a constant point of soreness for him.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Jason says when he finally puts Nico down. “Promise you’ll IM.”

“Sure,” Nico replies. “I was thinking of visiting around Christmas, maybe?”

“Definitely!” Jason’s eyes light up. “I got an apartment in the city, you could crash with me.”

“Uh, excuse me, am I overhearing you guys make Christmas plans without me?” Percy leans his elbow on Jason’s shoulder and puts his other hand on his hip. “Where am I gonna sleep?”

“You can just sleep in my bed with me, bro,” Jason smirks.

“Jason!” Percy grins and fans his face. “Not in front of everyone, please!”

“Hey, idiots.” Annabeth knocks Percy’s arm off Jason, throwing Percy off balance a little. “You’re holding us up. If we miss this train, Jason and Piper’ll miss their flight. Let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Percy throws a mock salute, winking at Nico as he does. “You’ll let me know if you’re in the city, right?”

“Sure thing.” Nico smiles. His stomach stays firmly in place, and his heart continues on as it was. “I’ll see you around.”

Nico watches them go. He feels a little empty, but also a little glad. Being at camp without being under Percy’s shadow for the first time could be, well. Nice.

He considers going back to his cabin for a bit, but changes his mind when he sees Will, hair standing out gold in the sun, heading towards the infirmary. He catches Nico’s eye and his face lights up. Nico smiles back and Will comes towards him, grabs Nico’s hand in his and kisses him, quick but gentle.

“Hi,” Will says.

“Hi,” Nico says back.

“Wanna help me file stuff?”

“Not really.”

“Even if I did this?” Will kisses him again, slower this time.

“Well,” Nico says after Will pulls away, a little dizzy. “You make a compelling argument.”

Will grins at him. Nico bumps Will’s shoulder and rolls his eyes, and they head towards the infirmary together.

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is sophelstien !! hmu


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